Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) Stock Price Up 0.1% – What’s Next?

Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) rose 0.1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $367.65 and last traded at $365.83. Approximately 262,719 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 93% from the average daily volume of 3,945,894 shares. The stock had previously closed at $365.39.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PANW has been the topic of a number of research reports. Truist Financial raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $334.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Citigroup raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Scotiabank raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $345.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $378.49.

Palo Alto Networks Price Performance

The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $352.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $328.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $118.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.99, a PEG ratio of 5.21 and a beta of 1.13.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 19th. The network technology company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. Palo Alto Networks had a net margin of 32.11% and a return on equity of 26.83%. The business had revenue of $2.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.80 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Palo Alto Networks

In related news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at approximately $227,680,932.85. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 81,586 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $367.99, for a total value of $30,022,832.14. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 618,715 shares in the company, valued at $227,680,932.85. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lee Klarich sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.93, for a total transaction of $17,755,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 159,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,055,533.37. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 315,252 shares of company stock valued at $107,138,877 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Pegasus Partners Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 27.2% during the 3rd quarter. Pegasus Partners Ltd. now owns 1,568 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $536,000 after purchasing an additional 335 shares during the last quarter. United Bank increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 6,835 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $2,336,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Windward Capital Management Co. CA increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 13.1% during the 3rd quarter. Windward Capital Management Co. CA now owns 2,022 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $691,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares during the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Palo Alto Networks during the 3rd quarter worth $673,000. Finally, Equitable Trust Co. increased its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 1,329 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $454,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.82% of the company’s stock.

Palo Alto Networks Company Profile

Palo Alto Networks, Inc provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; and Panorama, a security management solution for the global control of network security platform as a virtual or a physical appliance. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention.